Its no easy task to make it as an influencer, but where one star rises, another can just as easily fall.
Following a swift rise, Aussie influencer Emma Claiir is now on a quick plummet back to the bottom. The up-and-coming Instagram model was just digging her nails into the world of social influencing, when an appearance on her shared podcast, Simply Chaotic, saw a shocking admission lead to a swift cancelation. Within weeks, Claiir’s spotlight was fading, and the once-burgeoning star recently announced her intent to step back from social media. Claiir is now “going into hiding,” in hopes of improving her post-fallout mental health.
Who is Emma Claiir?
Emma Claiir is, in general, your run-of-the-mill 2023 influencer. She’s pretty, her fake tan is a few shades too dark, and she takes a great “candid” photo. Her Instagram is littered with snapshots of her posing in a variety of bikinis, lingerie, and colorful outfits, occasionally smooching on her man or laughing with a friend. She doesn’t have many brand deals — she may have none, at this point — but she’s certainly a pro at the Instagram game. She’s got the social media site’s brand down pat, which is likely the culprit behind her initial swift rise.
Claiir’s career was just beginning when it tanked, with the 28-year-old just recently launching into the podcast game, and securing deals with brands like MCoBeauty and Lust Minerals. She was on a sharp rise, and using her recently-born son, and the story of her pregnancy, birth, and new motherhood, to provide a platform. Then she shared a story that should never have seen the light of day, and tanked everything.
Why is she leaving social media?
Claiir’s reason for leaving social media — which she phrased as “going into hiding” — all comes down to an extremely ill-advised anecdote on an April episode of her shared podcast with Kristy Jean. Claiir shared, in Simply Chaotic‘s inaugural episode, that she killed two cats as a child, and somehow expected audiences to laugh along. In the episode, titled “It’s Definitely Not A Porno,” Claiir confessed “I killed my cat … My sister did not speak to me for months — months — and my mum was [expletive] fuming at me, and yeah, I killed it.” The incident reportedly happened when Claiir was around nine, and was just the beginning of the influencer’s shocking revelation. Following her childhood slaying of an innocent house pet, Claiir revealed that she also killed another cat.
“And then, if you really want to know more about me, I also killed my best friend’s cat,” she informed listeners back on April 17. Two dead cats, several lost brand deals, and a mountain of backlash later, Claiir decided to take a break from her social media pages.
The pushback from listeners was swift and decisive. Within days of the podcast airing, Claiir was facing a wave of furious messages from listeners, who were left thoroughly unimpressed by her initial “apology.” Claiir, Instagram inbox filling up with death threats, outraged messages, and unceasing backlash, took to her Instagram story to “explain” the horrific incident. Her initial response was far from adequate — as she told listeners to “chill” and explained that the story was “light humour” — and only increased the fallout. Claiir’s dismissiveness didn’t last long, however, once brands caught on to listener fury, and started to end their deals with her. Two separate beauty brands, MCoBeauty and Lust Minerals, issued statements announcing their “dismay” at Claiir’s admission, and cutting ties with the influencer.
Both brands, noting they do not “condone animal cruelty of any kind” thanked users for bringing Claiir’s admission to their attention, and made efforts to separate themselves from Claiir as much as possible.
Which, finally, pushed Claiir to provide a real apology. It was far too little, too late, of course, but Claiir did finally admit that her flippant initial response was inappropriate. In her second, much more genuine, apology, Claiir noted that the story about cat killing “was not intended to come across the way that it did” and that, after taking some time to consider, she does “have empathy about the situation.” She went on to reinforce the idea that she’s left those days long behind and has since been “the most amazing cat mum to multiple cats and dogs” as well as, of course, her newborn little boy.
It wasn’t nearly enough to save Claiir’s brand, nor was it enough to cease the backlash. Even after her apology went up, people continued to hound Claiir with furious messages, which eventually prompted her break from social media. She issued a statement, several weeks after the backlash began, with yet another “non-apology,” as her detractors put it, noting that her hopes of sharing her “life with you all” became impossible after she “shared a story from when I was a kid” and subsequently “became canceled.”
Noting her belief that the “story got taken out of proportion,” Claiir decried the “witch hunt” that followed and complained about her lost brand deals and announced that the negative energy was taking enjoyment away from her newborn son. As such, she took a brief break from social media — only to return and find more angry people waiting in the wings.
Calling those who pushed back against her cat-killing story “haters,” and noting that they “sucked,” Claiir weaved a story of harassment and lies, but it did little to increase sympathy for her situation. Her insistence on placing the blame elsewhere, rather than accepting the fault in herself, failed to ingratiate people to her, and largely left the internet masses pleased with her social media exit.
Claiir concluded her Instagram goodbye with a note that she will always be a mental health advocate and a push for those in need to seek out support from their communities. She once again worked to shift blame elsewhere, advising people to “take a step back and ask yourself if your actions could be damaging and dangerous to someone’s mental health,” and urged her followers to “always remember that the online space can be horrible, fake and harmful whether you have a following or not.” She even praised herself as “ok, strong and powerful” for walking away from all the hate.
Claiir’s announcement of her social media break seems to indicate that it will be short-lived, but for now, she’s ceased posting on her Instagram. The page is still accessible, however, and it seems likely Claiir will follow in the footsteps of so many problematic influencers before her. She’ll take a step back for a few weeks, maybe a month, until the backlash dies down and she can quietly worm her way back into her followers’ feeds. Until then, she’s off caring for her mental health — and hopefully staying far from any felines.